Kaitlynn Scarbrough and Dunn Crowder, fourth grade students in Mrs. Dalton's Westhills Elementary School class, were given a challenge -- "The Dalton Challenge" -- and met it head on.

The Dalton Challenge has four components: Inventors, Novel Study, Science Project, and Social Studies. Mrs. Dalton "challenged" all her students to pick one or more of the components, complete the project, then present it to the class.

Dunn zeroed in on the Science Project component. This unit requires the student to: (a) prepare a science study using the scientific method; (b) present findings to the class; and (c) use a covered science fair board and be sure to show scientific method. Dunn's project was "Fresh Water vs. Salt Water;" his objective was to determine if an object that floats in fresh water will float in salt water.

Kaitlynn not only chose one component, but three of the four. Her favorite, Social Studies, took her to many destinations, including country music's #1 locale, Nashville. The Social Studies component requires a student to: (a) plan a vacation over the United States; (b) visit 5 major cities and tell landmarks and interesting facts about each city; (c) create your own "Where in the World is __________?" game (to be played in class to see if fellow classmates can guess where you are); and (d) complete a scrapbook of your trip.

These students had a great time creating their projects and had fun presenting it to their class.

The Dalton Challenge wasn't a "have to" assignment; students selected challenges as an in-classroom enrichment program.